Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) is now comfortably besting its winter 2019 passenger traffic. The privately owned operator of four airports in Australia’s third most populous state had just released its passenger traffic figures for June 2022. At all four airports, the June 2022 numbers were considerably better than the pre-pandemic June 2019 numbers.
Strong passenger growth at all four Queensland Airports Limited airports
QAL owns and operates Gold Coast (OOL), Townsville (TSV), Mount Isa (ISA), and Longreach (LRE) airports. The jewel in the crown is the busy Gold Coast Airport which is soon to complete a major terminal expansion. All up, the four airports handled around 650,000 passengers in June, besting a 2017 monthly record of 642,366 passengers.
QAL CEO Amelia Evans said it was extremely pleasing to see all of the company’s airports had exceeded pre-COVID-19 levels last month. “Traveler confidence has bounced back strongly,” the CEO said on Tuesday.
The lion’s share of the passengers moved through Gold Coast Airport. OOL handled 483,649 passengers in June compared to 252,415 passengers in June 2021 and 474,644 passengers in June 2019. In May 2022, Australian Government statistics ranked Gold Coast Airport the country’s sixth busiest in terms of passenger numbers. It is the only one of QAL’s airports to make the top ten list.
The second-biggest airport in QAL’s portfolio is Townsville Airport (pictured) in Northern Queensland. Photo: Queensland Airports Limited
Passenger numbers through QAL’s smaller airports also up
The second-busiest airport in QAL’s portfolio is Townsville. The thriving northern Queensland coastal city saw 142,138 passengers moved through its airport in June. This compares to 109,121 passengers in June 2021 and 137,933 passengers in June 2019. In May 2022, TSV ranked as Australia’s 11th busiest airport measured by passenger numbers.
In May, TSV noted its passenger numbers had been increasing all year. In January, passenger numbers through the terminal were running at 55% of January 2019’s passenger numbers. The figure had risen to 95% by April, with the majority of those passengers flying the Townsville – Brisbane route.
Away from the coast, the two smaller airports owned and operated by QAL also recorded strong performances. One thousand kilometers west of Townsville, Mt Isa Airport hosts QantasLink, Virgin Australia, Alliance Airlines, and Regional Express services. ISA is a small airport. In June, it handled 20,431 passengers. This compares to 18,746 passengers in June 2021 and 18,173 passengers in June 2019.
“Mount Isa Airport recorded its highest monthly passenger numbers in almost a decade in June and the flight and passenger numbers recorded have been consistently strong for some time,” said Ms Evans.
Image: Queensland Airports Limited
Queensland Airport’s passenger growth contrasts with Sydney & Melbourne Airports
The minnow in QAL’s airport holdings is Longreach, a classic country town airport given a PR boost by the onsite Qantas Founders Museum. LRE handled 3,492 passengers in June – or just over 100 per day. QantasLink serves the airport out of Brisbane, while Regional Express also flies touches down on one of its Queensland milk runs.
But like the three bigger airports, Longreach also posted positive passenger growth in June. The June figure compares favorably against 3,337 passengers in June 2021 and 3,078 passengers in June 2019.
In contrast, at Australia’s two biggest airports, June 2022 passenger numbers remained down on comparable 2019 numbers. Sydney Airport (SYD) recorded 2,564,716 passengers in June, down 24.6% from the corresponding period in 2019. Melbourne Airport (MEL) handled 2,307,261 passengers in June, down 19.7% on June 2019.
Amelia Evans says her four airports were about 2.5% ahead of pre-COVID-19 levels. If you scratch out the international passenger numbers at Gold Coast Airport and only counted domestic passenger numbers, the passenger traffic across the four airports was 10% up on 2019.
